Mars is a planet of vast contrasts — huge volcanoes, deep canyons, and craters that may or may not host running water. It will be an amazing location for future tourists to explore, once we put the first Red Planet colonies into motion. The landing sites for these future missions will likely need to be flat plains for safety and practical reasons, but perhaps they could land within a few days’ drive of some more interesting geology. Here are some locations that future Martians could visit.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover took a photo of its broken companion, the Ingenuity helicopter, as it sat alone on a dune.

Scientists are now inspecting snagged, bagged and tagged bits and pieces from asteroid Bennu, the cosmic mother lode delivered by NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security — Regolith Explorer mission.

NASA’s asteroid-hopping Lucy spacecraft is on its way back to Earth for a Christmas-time rendezvous this year, before continuing its mission to investigate space rocks left over from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.

Fire weather prediction is not easy — there are so many different types of challenges that forecasters face both before a wildfire sparks and even while it’s active. These fires can ignite any time, and anywhere. So many different factors must be considered before estimating how quickly one can spread, and how deeply it may impact our lives and our communities.

Researchers have for the first time grown chickpea seeds in soil similar to that found on the moon, paving the way to reduce dependency on packaged foods during future crewed missions.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Blue Origin is highlighting the capabilities of an orbital transfer vehicle design it announced last year, including the ability of the spacecraft to serve as a fuel depot.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Following Northrop Grumman’s recent announcement that its satellite refueling port was selected as the preferred standard for military satellites, a Space Systems Command official said the company’s statement has been misinterpreted as making Northrop the sole provider.  

ORLANDO, Fla. — The U.S. Air Force is pressing forward with plans to demonstrate point-to-point rocket travel perhaps in a few years.

ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA is hosting a workshop later this month to learn about options for low-cost missions to an asteroid that will make a close approach to the Earth in 2029, a move that has confused some scientists who believe a shelved smallsat mission can meet NASA’s needs.

ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA is wrapping up an effort to collect lessons learned from the Artemis 1 mission that address both technical and programmatic issues that the agency hopes to apply more broadly to the overall Artemis lunar exploration campaign.

HELSINKI — A pair of Chinese rockets launched 11 mobility services satellites for an automaker and nine further, diverse satellites into orbit late Friday.

WASHINGTON — A nearly billion-dollar mission to study the Earth’s oceans and atmosphere is ready to launch after surviving several cancellation attempts earlier in its development.

WASHINGTON — Synthetaic, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to analyze data from space and air sensors, announced Feb. 6 it raised $15 million in Series B funding.

WASHINGTON — Intuitive Machines and SpaceX have confirmed plans to launch the IM-1 lunar lander mission as soon as Feb. 14, pending a fueling test on the pad later this week.

WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic said Feb. 5 it is investigating why a pin fell from the aircraft used by its VSS Unity suborbital spaceplane on its most recent flight last month, adding that the incident did not pose a safety risk to those on board.